1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus having an editing function of performing, by using an external recording apparatus which is remotely operable, editing of signals recorded on a recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
In performing, by using an external recording apparatus which is remotely operable, editing of signals recorded on a recording medium, the conventional reproducing apparatus has been provided with no means for confirming that the remote operation can be accurately carried out with remote operation control command codes being used for the remote operation control. Further, in adjusting the timing of transmitting the remote operation control command codes and the timing of actual start of operation of the recording apparatus to each other, the operator of the conventional reproducing apparatus has been necessitated to arrange and use an additional clock for measuring a time lag.
It has been another problem with the conventional reproducing apparatus that, when acceptance of remote operation commands is inhibited to prevent an erroneous operation within the reproducing apparatus, which is on the side of transmitting signals to an external recording apparatus, while the editing operation is in process, no display is provided for informing the operator of the inhibition of acceptance of remote operation commands.
It has been a further problem that the display area of display means of the conventional reproducing apparatus is limited. Therefore, in the conventional reproducing apparatus, it has been hardly possible to accurately display information apposite to each of operation modes of varied kinds.
In other words, the problems of the conventional reproducing apparatus include a shortcoming that, during the process of verifying the actions of command codes to find if a remote operation can be accurately carried out with the command codes being used, the conventional reproducing apparatus is incapable of clearly informing the operator as to when a command code is transmitted and how the external recording apparatus is acting in response to the command code.
Another problem in the conventional reproducing apparatus lies in that, in adjusting a time lag between the timing of transmitting a command code and the timing of the commencement of an action of the recording apparatus, the adjustment necessitates a very troublesome operation as follows. First, editing work must be tentatively performed by using a recording medium on which time information is recorded. After that, a time lag adjustment value must be computed by reproducing information from the edited recording medium.
A further problem lies in that no information on the inhibition of acceptance of remote operation commands within the reproducing apparatus is displayed even when acceptance of remote operation commands on the side of the reproducing apparatus is inhibited for the purpose of preventing an erroneous operation while an editing operation is in process. The absence of such a display sometimes confuses the operator, because the operator cannot instantly understand why the remote operation onto the reproducing apparatus has become invalid.
A still further problem with the conventional reproducing apparatus lies in that a display is made in the same mode both during a process of setting an editing program and during a process of executing an editing operation. Some of display items that cannot be displayed while an editing program is in a setting process but must be displayed while an editing operation is in process, such as a date or the like, therefore, sometimes cannot be displayed even while the editing operation is in process, because of an insufficient display space.
It is a general object of the invention to provide a reproducing apparatus having an editing function, which is arranged to be capable of solving the above-stated problems.
It is a more specific object of the invention to provide a reproducing apparatus having an editing function, which is arranged to be capable of allowing the operator to clearly know how a verifying process is being executed for finding whether or not a recording apparatus actually used as an external recording apparatus can be remotely operated by the reproducing apparatus, how an editing operation is progressing and also how the reproducing apparatus is operating.
To attain the above object, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a reproducing apparatus having an editing function of editing, by using a remotely operable external recording apparatus, an information signal recorded on a recording medium, which comprises (A) editing program setting instructing means for giving an instruction to set at least one editing program, (B) action verifying execution instructing means arranged to store beforehand a plurality of kinds of remote operation control data codes for remotely controlling recording apparatuses each usable as the external recording apparatus, in correspondence to the respective usable recording apparatuses, and arranged to, prior to execution of an editing action, give an instruction to execute an action verifying operation of (i) selecting remote operation control data codes corresponding to a recording apparatus actually used as the external recording apparatus from among the stored plurality of kinds of remote operation control data codes, (ii) transmitting to the actually used recording apparatus a remote operation control command according to a remote operation control data code for causing the actually used recording apparatus to perform a predetermined action among the selected remote operation control data codes corresponding to the actually used recording apparatus, and (iii) confirming whether or not a remote operation can be accurately performed by using the selected remote operation control data codes corresponding to the actually used recording apparatus, (C) editing action execution instructing means arranged to transmit to the actually used recording apparatus remote operation control commands according to remote operation control data codes for causing the actually used recording apparatus to act in accordance with the set editing program, and arranged to give an instruction to execute, by using the actually used recording apparatus, an editing action on the information signal recorded on the recording medium in accordance with the editing program, (D) display image signal generating means arranged to, in response to the instruction for setting of the editing program by the editing program setting instructing means, generate a display image signal corresponding to contents of the set editing program, arranged to, in response to the instruction for execution of the action verifying operation by the action verifying execution instructing means, generate a display image signal corresponding to contents of the action of the actually used recording apparatus performed according to the transmitted remote operation control command, and arranged to, in response to the instruction for execution of the editing action by the editing action execution instructing means, generate a display image signal corresponding to a status of progress of the set editing program, and (E) reproducing means for, in response to the instruction for execution of the editing action by the editing action execution instructing means, reproducing the information signal recorded on the recording medium and outputting the reproduced information signal to the actually used recording apparatus according to the set editing program.
It is another object of the invention to provide a reproducing apparatus having an editing function and arranged to be capable of accurately setting the timing of transmitting remote operation control commands to a recording apparatus, without necessitating any special operation, for a remote operation on the recording apparatus, which is actually used as an external recording apparatus.
To attain the above object, in accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a reproducing apparatus having an editing function of editing, by using a remotely operable external recording apparatus, an information signal recorded on a recording medium, which comprises (A) display image signal generating means for generating display image signals indicative of various operating states of the reproducing apparatus, (B) transmitting means arranged to store beforehand a plurality of kinds of remote operation control data codes for remotely controlling recording apparatuses each usable as the external recording apparatus, in correspondence to the respective usable recording apparatuses, and arranged to transmit, to a recording apparatus actually used as the external recording apparatus, remote operation control commands according to remote operation control data codes corresponding to the actually used recording apparatus among the stored plurality of kinds of remote operation control data codes, (C) reproducing means for reproducing the information signal recorded on the recording medium and outputting the reproduced information signal to the actually used recording apparatus, (D) instructing means arranged to have a selecting mode of selecting the remote operation control data codes corresponding to the actually used recording apparatus from among the plurality of kinds of remote operation control data codes stored in the transmitting means, a transmitting mode of transmitting to the actually used recording apparatus a remote operation control command according to a remote operation control data code for causing the actually used recording apparatus to perform a predetermined action among the remote operation control data codes selected in the selecting mode, an adjusting mode of adjusting transmission timing of the remote operation control command to be transmitted in the transmitting mode to the actually used recording apparatus, and an editing execution mode of causing the transmitting means to transmit to the actually used recording apparatus remote operation control commands according to remote operation control data codes for causing the actually used recording apparatus to act in accordance with a preset editing program and of executing, by using the actually used recording apparatus, an editing action on the information signal recorded on the recording medium in accordance with the editing program, and arranged to give an instruction to cause the reproducing apparatus to act in accordance with one of the selecting mode, the transmitting mode, adjusting mode and the editing execution mode, and (E) control means (i) arranged to, in response to the instruction by the instructing means for causing the reproducing apparatus to act in accordance with the transmitting mode, cause the transmitting means to transmit the remote operation control command to the actually used recording apparatus and cause the display image signal generating means to generate a display image signal corresponding to contents of the action of the actually used recording apparatus according to the transmitted remote operation control command and corresponding to the transmission timing of the remote operation control command, (ii) arranged to, in response to the instruction by the instructing means for causing the reproducing apparatus to act in accordance with the adjusting mode, set the transmission timing of the remote operation control command to be transmitted by the transmitting means, and (iii) arranged to, in response to the instruction by the instructing means for causing the reproducing apparatus to act in accordance with the editing execution mode, cause the transmitting means to transmit the remote operation control commands according to the editing program, cause the reproducing means to reproduce the information signal recorded on the recording medium in accordance with the editing program and cause the display image signal generating means to generate a display image signal corresponding to a status of progress of the editing program.
These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.